When I was a kid, my grandpa used to refer to doctors as “croakers.” I once asked him why. He replied in his usual matter-of-fact way: “Because when you go to them, they croak you.” I still wasn’t sure what he meant, but I didn’t inquire further. My grandpa wasn’t the kind of guy who liked to be peppered with a lot of questions, especially when they challenged his way of thinking.

It wasn’t until many years later that I understood what he meant, or more accurately, why he felt this way.

My grandpa was born in 1907. Armed with a sixth-grade education, he married my grandma and together they raised three children in a very modest home in Detroit. He worked most of his life in skilled trades, and for a while, during the war, he worked in a factory. Back in those days, there were no unions, no paid sick days and no health benefits.

In those days, a trip to the doctor meant a bill that had to be paid out of the already thin monthly budget, which meant that doctor’s visits were reserved for those rare events when someone was seriously injured or when a medical condition reached an unbearable state. Preventive medicine was not an accepted concept at that time—at least not for low- or middle-class folks. When they were sick, they just toughed it out and hoped it would be OK.

This way of thinking meant many from that era avoided the doctor until it was too late. By the time they sought help, their illnesses were too advanced for any type of medical intervention. Hence the comment about doctors being “croakers.”

This happened to friends, relatives and neighbors so frequently that it was no wonder people saw the doctor as an option of last resort. In fact, their behavior perpetuated this mindset. As more people postponed doctor’s visits, more died; and as more people died, the more others postponed.

We’ve seen this same behavior in relation to reverse mortgages. In the early years, because consumers did not understand reverse mortgages and were mostly afraid of them, only those who were financially desperate had enough courage to give them a try. Over the years, however, educated consumers started to see the strategic benefits of reverse mortgages as a viable retirement planning tool.

Still, some experts continued to say that reverse mortgages were loans of last resort, and they pointed to the fact that most of the folks who took them in the past were in a dire situation, so therefore the loan must be for those types of people. The thought was, “Don’t take a reverse mortgage. It is the beginning of the end.”

Sound familiar?

As a result, many people did not even consider a reverse mortgage, and they avoided addressing their financial challenges until they eventually found themselves in a bad spot. It was only then that they looked into the loan. But by then, for some, it was too late and the situation was too far gone for the loan to be helpful. For others, the loan was only a temporary fix that did not provide a long-term solution; it only postponed the financial malaise.

With the implementation of Financial Assessment—the industry’s version of preventive medicine—reverse mortgages are now a way to help people plan their futures and actually prevent financial disaster rather than contribute to it.

In 1979, when my grandpa was 72, he finally had to see the doctor. He passed away approximately 48 hours later.

As a nation, we’ve learned that seeing the doctor helps us live healthier, happier and longer. We now know this, and we accept it. We must see the reverse mortgage the same way, as a preventive tool that can create financial health, happiness and longevity.

People who make the general statement that reverse mortgages are only loans of last resort are either ignoring the facts or refusing to accept them. Their views are most likely based on misinformation and irrational fear, as were my grandpa’s.

I hope every time you hear someone say, “Reverse mortgages are a loan of last resort,” you will think of my grandpa. He was a good man, but he died too soon because he didn’t understand that the thing he was most afraid of was the very thing that could have saved his life.